As someone involved in politics for more than 40years, I can attest to the fact that you ruffle some feathers and, dare I say, make some enemies along the way. So what? If the bed-wetters and pearl-clutchers aren’t upset with you, you aren’t making a difference.

Politics ain’t beanbag, as the saying goes, and I’m no stranger to controversy or a fight. I’ve been called just about every name in the book, and new books could be written using just the words that have been created to attack me.

But there is one word that no one has ever attempted to attach to me before this week: traitor.

Think of me what you will, I love my country. I’ve spent my life defending it from those who seek to harm it, both foreign and domestic. So imagine my surprise when a third-rate bureaucrat cum fourth-rate partisan former CIA Deputy CIA Director Mike Morell accused me of “actually working on behalf of the Russians.”

Congressman Jerry Nadler started this witch hunt when he called on FBI Director Comey (director of the Sandy Berger, Mark Rich, and Hillary e-mail cover-ups) to investigate me for my non-existent ties to Russia. I am accused of treason. That’s what Nadler, CIA hack Michael Morell, and the Clinton thugs have accused me of. It is, to put it mildly, bullshit. And they know it.The Clintonsu2019 War ...Roger Stone, Robert Mo...Best Price: $1.59Buy New $8.98(as of 05:30 EST - Details)

But Morell, now a flying monkey in Hillary Clinton’s thug army, is happily spreading the lie that I knew in advance that Wikileaks would hack the very revealing e-mail of Hillary campaign chief John Podesta. This because of a tweet I posted in August at the time my boyhood friend and colleague Paul Manafort was under attack for his perfectly legal work in Ukraine for a democratic political party. I predicted that Podesta’s business dealings would be exposed. I didn’t hear it from Wikileaks, although Julian Assange and I share a common friend. I reported the story on my website.

So let’s be clear. I had no advance notice of Wikileaks’ hacking of Podesta’s e-mails. I didn’t need it to know what Podesta has been up to. I do not work for any Russian interest. I have no Russian clients. I have never received a penny from any public or private entity or individual and that includes Russian intelligence. None. Nada. Zilch.

This is the new McCarthyism. I don’t favor war with Russia, a war this administration seems to be hurtling towards as we speak. Like Trump, I favor a period of Nixon-like détente and hard-headed negotiations with the Russians that would allow us to work together to crush ISIS. This does not mean I am pro-Putin or approve of Russian totalitarianism.

Being in politics a while, I do understand deflection. The Clintonistas hope they can distract public attention away from the stunning criminal activities exposed in the Wikileaks by attacking those who they say leaked them. In this case, that is not me.